gotterdamerung

You have to really love guiding for it to be worthwhile. If you would prefer to do your own thing then it's a nightmare.

I could WRITE longer articles I suppose.

It's all a tragic comedy anyway. Everybody gotta die sometime.

Don't let Volken hear you saying that. You'd steal his thunder.

We could bash you instead. Scott's a friend who I've actually talked to on several occassions. All the same I like thrashing on him anyway.

I'm going to do the mountain ascent challenge in the slowest time possible. Make the course setters have to wait out there for hours sweating my safety. Meanwhile I'll be under my beta-mid taking a nap near Kaleetan.

Hey their logo picture is from the crack CptC and I cleaned almost taking my finger off in the process. Onwards to offwidth Wednesday!

A study: BIAP ROAD Zinni is probably one of the most reliable sources for military thought processes. However, I am not certain that even someone as distinguished as he was would maintain an active clearance upon retirement. Information is fluid. Nothing is set in stone. The "Spearhead" that entered Baghdad in 2003, which was thought to be gearing for the mother of all urban combat situations, was woefully inadequate at a mere 5000 men from the Third Infantry Division. I had a kind of familiarity with this unit from my own Army career. My friend Ray spent some time with this same reconstituted infantry division in Somalia/Operation Restore Hope/UNITAF. From conversations pertaining to Somalia he described periods of incoming mortars, small arms fire, dirty conditions, and intermittent warfare. The unit had some combat experience from that and the 1st Gulf War, but this war was something new. This time it would be the old “Strike-Hold” mentality. Holding terrain and blowing through obstacles are two entirely different facets of modern warfare. The lessons were about to be learned in hindsight. 3rd ID had long geared itself for the modern middle eastern battlefield, but no one was really geared for the realities on the ground in Iraq. The point of the spear just kept getting leaner and leaner as the road went north. The reality was that we had bypassed every major enemy enclave, leaving battalions to contain the Baathists, but never insuring a strong forward push. The enemy dissolved under wary leadership and were sent home to fight another day. Every day since that has been an insurgency. The combined armor/scout teams initial forays towards the heart of Baghdad were simply strong armored reconnaissance on the main highway called Saddam highway. This artery which links the US military base known as BIAP, with the diplomatic brain stem (IZ-formerly Green Zone/CPA) is still contested today. There have been numerous ambushes on this road including one in December of L. Paul Bremer's motorcade. It would be several weeks before this event was reported to the public, but I was aware of it on the 6th of December 2003 when Name Withheld reported the incident to the selected members of the winter selection course for BPD. It was reported that several IED’s detonated behind the Ambassador’s limo striking his limo, the follow car, and spraying a HMMV with shrapnel. A little bird helicopter immediately came on station, but found no subsequent targets to engage. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/19/sprj.irq.main/ I once had a conversation with a full bird infantry colonel regarding BIAP road and it‘s security posture. I told him that if they wanted to secure the BIAP highway they would need a rotating company element of armored infantry to man fixed positions and conduct patrols of the road. Simple math allows that 2 platoons could cover the uncontested highway augmented by armored HMMV patrols of dismounts along the entire stretch. Checkpoints are BFV’s in hull down positions linked 800m apart and dispersed with dismounts for close protection. The 25mm gun of the Bradley is more than adequate to cover this range with HE/AP. This chain gun being well known for it’s ability to pack a substantial punch. In reserve, a QRF element from the 2 platoons off duty able to respond (rolling-locked and loaded) at least one platoon in less than 3 minutes. Seemed pretty common sense to me. I had driven this same road hundreds of times in both directions over the past year and manned a fixed checkpoint along the axis for weeks because the Army was unable to manage the operation. My first day on that road resulted in me and my Ghurka partner being sprayed with rounds from an AK-47. We took cover and then it was over. Gone like a ghost. In Artyom Borovick’s classic tale The Hidden War the Russians referred to them as Dushku or ghosts. I’ve seen RPG rounds fired from the French village at passing convoys. Weaved in and out of traffic along it’s entire length, and jumped curbs to avoid IED’s planted on the roadway. I have seen fatalities occur on this highway. It’s an eerie feeling when you drive past an anonymous stretch of that highway that 2 minutes later is peppered with explosives. Vulnerable would be the feeling associated with that realization. Over time that same road has come to be called “Ambush Alley”. I felt that was somewhat of a misnomer when I first heard that statement, but upon my return to Iraq in April-May I changed my mind pretty quickly. The devastation along the highway from the April battles was highly evident. The burned out hull of a US Army transporter and trailer stood as a monument to the ambushes that had occurred there. Also in testimony were the burned out patches of road, debris littering the roadway, and Jersey barriers pushed out in the road to create slow-downs and choke points. American troops and contractors have been dying on BIAP highway for quite some time. A few months ago 4 men from my unit were killed in a highly coordinated moving ambush involving RPG’s, a rolling hit, and subsequent blocking of egress routes. The survivors were badly shot up and in need of medical attention. A former 1st Sergeant of mine picked them up off the highway after they had commandeered a vehicle and driven to the 1st military checkpoint they could find. He described the moderately wounded American as screaming and experiencing a lot of blood loss from a small wound to the ear. In addition he had been hit at least 3 other times in various places. The Pole who was gut-shot on the other hand complained little as it did his Polish companion. They were totally calm after experiencing a harrowing gunfight which resulted in 4 KIA on BIAP Highway. After action reports pinpointed foreign fighters as the antagonists in this deadly assault. Chechnyans to be more precise. Up the ante some more boys. The air of tension ratchets up a little more every time you go back there. It begins to invade your psyche, to get underneath your skin. Almost from the second your feet touch ground in this ancient land you begin to mentally revive your survival instinct. Information that does not pertain to the immediate moment you are living in becomes irrelevant. What matters is the air conditioning in your vehicle, the weapon in your hands, the body armor on your chest, and the men around you. Those things and time. Each moment crystal clear. Poignant in that it may very well be your last. You grit your teeth and keep your hatchet sharp. The mission will continue. The only way is forward to the objective and Allah will meet many souls should Haji fuck with us At least this is the attitude portrayed, but this is not always the reality. Sometimes The Haj wins. People I’ve worked with or known have died here. We’ve all had a close call or two. Everyone has their story. They will take them home someday and wonder if people would want to hear those tales? What lessons could be learned? Are we reinventing the wheel? … A malignant hatred begins to rise and fester. Every day anger seethes throughout. There are thoughts of mortality to wrestle with. Thoughts of home to suppress. Moving on… It was clear to me after a mere few minutes of conversation that this Colonel right out of the war college was somewhat distant from the reality of the situation. Nonplussed he said “They would be too exposed”. Clearly this man had no real knowledge of the true situation along the BIAP highway because he never left the safety of the Emerald City for the real world out beyond the gates. I had spent 6 months tracking around those wastes, and I was pretty damned happy to be sitting it out for awhile in the green fortress. I recognized his mindset as a stereotype of a hundred Mad magazine caricatures of Colonel’s gone mad or too distant from reality to react. I decided to let the conversation end right there. If no one has the guts to protect one of our most basic and vital supply and information lines here at the epicenter of our military and political seat of power, how then can we even begin to protect the long supply lines or our own people? A few months later on another trip I returned to find Bradley’s out protecting the BIAP road. Maybe someone got smart to the real solution. Probably some civilian or a private mentioned the obvious. Who knows? Maybe we’re even a little more secure as a result, but who knows. The next time it may be a dirty bomb or a chemical dispersion. I mean after all the WMD’s were fake…right? Right? I think not. Rumors of them circulate still. There is always validity in rumor.

Mine too...

Speak for yourself chode. No doubt.

There is a big difference between a renegade movement attempting a civil war ALLOWING it's children to get in the line of fire, and then that same runaway illegal movement specifically targeting the oppositions children in a lawful school. You are advocating anarchy and murder by posting this link.

WTF? 5 Christian churches were recently bombed and there was hardly a shadow of Christian indignation. This is apathy and weak. However, chip the paint on some holy Muslim Mosque and we have to hear the left scream about how this is going to funnel millions of dollars into the fight against the US. The fight that THEY (liberals) are not even fighting by the way. Their pacifism should not be tolerated any longer. Pacifism during a time of declared and open war, where Americans are dying, should be taken for it is. Cowardice and SEDITION.

Spend some time in some places like this and you will realize the media are cowards who hide in the secure areas and report what they can gather second hand. I should become a reporter, but you wouldn't be able to handle the truth. Everytime I post something even remotely truthful (I.E. a picture of a real event) it get's censored because it is too 'inflammatory' or 'distasteful'. Alpinfox should be banned from the spray category for her weak liberal playground mentality.

The jackbooted stormtroopers would krush your puny insurrection with extreme prejudice.

Sure I do, but you don't. Newsflash...I've been fighting in Iraq for 14 months. I bet you've been sitting on your liberal ass. With a name like Arlen I doubt you're even from America. I don't fight for you. Get it?

Are you? Go out and ride your bike Dave. And take your meds...

Greg, don't worry or get yourself all worked up. These people on this site (no matter how well educated they may consider themselves) are only the fringe dwellers about to fall off the grid you're dealing with here. These are the same sheep that would have let themselves be marched off to the oven debating the whole thing rather than fighting, kicking and screaming. I don't fight for you. You are not my country men.

I attend their war seminars. Let's see...the last one was "Car bomb the ministry of health".

The bad guys are not intimidated by YOU to be more exact. When they realize this is the attitude of a certain % of people in the US it only encourages them. Good work.

Gargle my butt gravy

That's bullshit. George had total and complete discretion on the force level and military's analysis and recommendation was to go in big. The only reason we didn't was because Rumsfield and the Neocon's were trying to prove their pet theory that they could go in ultra light, decapitate, and all the populace would rollover. That theory would allow them to manage two or three such fronts if necessary (Iran, Syria, etc...). That "theory" was contrary to every intelligence and military analysis done by professionals rather than the posers Rumsfield assembled. To tell the truth guys, I get confused here sometimes, a whole bunch of you appear to support politicians and not the military. They are not the same at all, this administration has a blantant disregard for the military, has ignored the military and intelligence analyses at ever turn and blindly put our troops in harms way to test the amateurish theory of a bunch of civilians. Far from pointing them at an objective and letting them go, this administration has hamstrung every aspect of this campaign to-date and have destroyed the Reserves and Guard while they were at it. If you really supported the military and troops then these are the last fools on earth you'd allow near the power to wield them. Actually the parallels are quite striking: * Cogent analyses that advised against the engagement * Manufactured and manipulated intelligence in liew of assests on the ground * No short or long term exit strategy * No effort to understand the local population needs * No post invasion plans of note What's really different between this and other engagements is most intelligent folks wait until they actually have the country secure before divving up the spoils among their buddies. That way you actually get to enjoy them instead of being annoyed by an endless string of locals with IED's you left laying around. PDX dweller, Once again your analysis is pretty much right on the head. Nonetheless, this is not the right time to start protesting against the war ala' Vietnam style. It's time to get the job done right, and THEN get the hell out. If more people put more time into trying to figure that one out we'd all be in a lot better shape and A LOT of deserving young men and women would come home safe to a warm respectful welcome. In this devisive political year it seems more important for Americans at our level to come together. We can clearly see our politicians on both sides are ineffectual or too hard line. I think it's shown us a few things about the world we live in. Europe is not neccessarily our allies of old, Saudi Arabia has an agenda, rogue nations are willing to go to great lengths to survive (even risking a world war), and the US is not omnipotent. I for one would quit antagonizing everyone here so hard if they were willing to find more common ground. Our mutual stereotyping is doing no one any good anymore. Things have come to far too fast for any of that to be relevant anymore.

Where the heck is Taholah?

Everything you've said is pretty much true. Believe it or not the guys on the ground over there know it too, and most of them don't really care. I know that might seem incomprehensible, but it's the truth. The military of today is more like the Reagan Youth Brigade. Ultra-nationalistic, intense, foscused, professional. Not a draft Army. The video games of the past 10 years? Blueprints for future combat. There are Americans who like to fight and will fight against long odds despite the obvious political fall out. It would be nice if they would let us win now instead of waiting on this chikenshit election. Allow us to reconsolidate before Bush sends everyone screaming into Iran like the light brigade. It would be nice if they would send another 100,000 troops to Iraq and clean house. Nice to see the draft reinstated or benefits of military service greatly expanded. It would be nice to have MOAB's dropped on Fallujah, Najaf, and Nasariyah. All due respect for your service in Vietnam. I have always had interest in the veterans of that war and took it upon myself long ago to study that war in depth. I've read everything from Hackworth to Lam Son 719. I've talked with veterans from all branches of service who served in Korea and Vietnam. I've studied warfare for years. Much longer than two tours in Vietnam. I've spent more time in uniform than 90% of the Vietnam vets. Longer time in a combat site than anyone with less than 3 tours. Don't let the irreverant internet persona fool you. Vietnam? It was a raw deal, but this war (Iraq) is winnable. It is winnable by ruthless action. I believe that if Bush is reelected there will be a strong card played on the Arabs in Iraq, and this time they won't be a soft sell. My service covers over a decade on several continents, under several presidents and against many enemies other than the NVA/Viet Cong. I've travelled jungles, deserts and cities. All kidding aside I appreciate your input, and it pretty much right on the money, but it is hindsight and no one wants to be the last man to die in Iraq. We would prefer to make the other guy die for their flag. That's why the casualty ratios are somewhere near a 100 to 1. They don't send people charging up hillsides anymore sir. We wait them out and smoke them out one by one. Let us win and we will. Begin protesting something you don't really understand and we will come home and rip your country to peices with anger and resentment. Like I said. Spit on me in an airport when I come home from Iraq and I'll kill you where you stand. And that's not an internet avatar speaking either.

Ryland Moore means "He who takes it up the ass" in American. Blow me choad.

Good report. I bet that traverse is pretty icy right about now.